Universal civil code? Men having multiple wives was common practice in ancient India

By Nava Thakuria*
Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocated for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) during a meeting at Bhopal in central India, the nation starts debating aggressively over the ‘one nation one rule’ policy. Modi has sought to argue that two laws in one house should not be accepted and the nationalist leader even linked it with the rights of Muslim women.

As the State assembly elections are due in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana (need not to talk about the national polls) early next year, Modi’s argument was denounced by the opposition parties questioning the government’s intention.

Ahead of general elections, the opposition leaders belonging to the Congress, DMK, AIMIM, Janata Dal (United), Rastriya Janata Dal, Bharat Rashtra Samity, Trinamool Congress, etc. have criticised the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party-led alliance for propagating the UCC with an aim to get undue electoral benefits.

They argued that the UCC will destroy India’s diversity and pluralism, and hence its implementation is not necessary. All India Muslim Personal Law Board strongly opposed the UCC claiming that it was planned only to target the Muslim population of India. Even though the UCC remains a preferred issue for the saffron leaders, many politicians from northeast Indian States of Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya (who are even political allies to the ruling BJP) expressed dissatisfaction over the development.

The Union government in New Delhi is assumed to place the bill in the ongoing monsoon session of the Parliament. Amidst the intriguing debates, Assam government in north-eastern region plans to go ahead with a new law banning polygamy, State chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma revealed that his government was planning to introduce a bill in the upcoming State legislative assembly session scheduled for September with an aim to ban the practice.

Insisting on prohibiting polygamy so that a male irrespective of his religion can be stopped marrying more than one spouse at the same time, the BJP leader revealed that it’s almost zero among the educated families (comprising indigenous Muslims) in the State. Men having multiple wives (definitely not vice versa) was a common practice in ancient India.

Politicians from Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya, even allies to the ruling BJP, have expressed dissatisfaction over UCC

From the emperors to kings and landlords to influential individuals all enjoyed the practice (though with guidelines that wives should be treated equally) as it was not prohibited in earlier days. After India’s independence in 1947, voices were raised against the practice in the largest democracy of the globe and then came the Special Marriage Act 1954 and Hindu Marriage Act 1955, which outlawed polygamy for Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs (with exceptions to some tribal communities and residents of Goa).

However, the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1937 allows a Muslim man to marry up to four women at a time. Even the conversion to Islam (from other religions) permitted a man to have more than one wife. The Supreme Court later declared this kind of religious conversion as unconstitutional in 1995.

Among the Muslim dominated countries, Turkey and Tunisia have already banned the practice of polygamy. Some nations like Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Jordan, Algeria, Morocco, Cameroon, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh allow polygamy with restrictions. But it's rare where a woman is known to be allowed to endorse more than one spouse.

One can only mention that the great Indian epic Mahabharata describes a divine lady living with five husbands. Draupadi, princess of Panchal kingdom, married five Pandavas (Yudhisthir, Bheem, Arjun, Nokul and Sahadev) and she used to live with one Pandava for a year with specific arrangements.

---

*Senior journalist based in Assam

Comments

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat* As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra* It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.

Sardar Patel was on Nathuram Godse's hit list: Noted Marathi writer Sadanand More

Sadanand More (right) By A Representative In a surprise revelation, well-known Gujarati journalist Hari Desai has claimed that Nathuram Godse did not just kill Mahatma Gandhi, but also intended to kill Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Citing a voluminous book authored by Sadanand More, “Lokmanya to Mahatma”, Volume II, translated from Marathi into English last year, Desai says, nowadays, there is a lot of talk about conspiracy to kill Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, but little is known about how the Sardar was also targeted.

Bihar’s land at ₹1 per acre for Adani sparks outrage, NAPM calls it crony capitalism

By A Representative The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has strongly condemned the Bihar government’s decision to lease 1,050 acres of land in Pirpainti, Bhagalpur district, to Adani Power for a 2,400 MW coal-based thermal power project.

Counterview

Search This Blog